Designer Bookshelf

Okay, so I am definitely the first one to admit that I am really not very good with matching, creativeness, or design, but I really enjoy what we did with the bookshelf Michael's mom gave us in exchange for cleaning out things from his childhood room.  We have a wall in our living room between the two windows that was just dying for a tall bookshelf and now we have one less wall to hang things on (side note: we have almost nothing on our walls and we have been in our house for 5 months now).  This bookshelf worked perfectly and just one year ago I would have stacked it full of every book that could fit and call it a day, but now after a year of some intense design blog reading I have been getting more inspired and Michael and I created some pretty cool displays on the shelves with things we already had!  There are still lots of books, but only those that made the cut after much scrutiny. Also, please excuse the picture quality - I need to a) charge the battery on my nice camera and b) take some time to learn all the awesome things I can do with said nice camera.

Full view, still need something on the top.

 Top two shelves, with our wedding wine in the back.

The bottom two shelves have some classics aka those books you read for school and hated it but maybe someday you will read them again and appreciate.  We also have some LOTR and C.S. Lewis in there.

Harry Potter is of course on top, complete with nerdy 3-D glasses from the movie :) and yes we DO know that we are missing some books - those are to come!

Currently reading section with the engagement present from my sisters and our ring box from our wedding.

Michael's beloved Game of Thrones (I just watch the show).

And finally, the history section since Michael is a history buff, and people might think we are intellectual.

So there you have it, not exactly designer quality but much better than anything I have had before! I think it needs a bit more color but I think that is a project for down the road and it definitely needs something on top, but we can't decide what that is yet - any suggestions??  

Feature Craft: Earring Hanger

A few months ago right around the wedding, I read a post over on I Heart Organizing about a fun and crafty earring hanger.  About a month ago I showed it to Michael and of course his response was, "I can make that".  And make it he did!

It was pretty simple to make with some decorative radiator grating, some wood, and some dark stain that we had from a previous spice rack project.  I think that I might change the color of the frame eventually but for now it works well for what we have in our room.  He also used a 5 x 7 frame to make me a smaller one from the leftover grating to put next to my bed.

How genius is that?? Now when I take off my earrings at night, I don't have to worry about them falling off my night stand.  After he made me one, we had a few friends and family members show interest so we decided to add it to our Etsy shop.  Head over and check it out!  

We've Been Published!

Or at least our wedding photos have :) Our wonderful photographers, who own Living Story Photography, submitted our wedding to a wedding blog, Savvy Deets Bridal, and we were published yesterday!  Go here to see the post featuring Michael and I and the awesome handmade decor that Michael (and I) made.  As an avid blog reader who got started when I was planning my wedding, I was so excited to see our wedding out there in the blog world!  I always wondered how those weddings were chosen to be featured.  Yay us!  Thank you to SDB for allowing us to have our small moment of fame and for having such an awesome site to help out future brides - if you are planning a wedding or looking to in the future, be sure to check out what they have to offer!

Grilling...Pizza!

Grilled pizza is a new favorite of Michael and I's.  I started making homemade pizza last year when I lived in Richmond and a few friends and I had "family" dinner nights - oh how I miss those dinners!  I started experimenting with toppings since I am usually just a pepperoni pizza eater.  Michael and I made homemade pizza a couple times this summer and then realized we had a pizza pan that could go on the grill from one of his aunts - score!  If you haven't tried grilled pizza before, you must try it as it tastes just delicious and the crust is nice and crispy.

Grilled Pizza:

Roll out your dough (we use our bread machine, but we have also bought dough from a restaurant and used pizza crusts from the grocery store) and place it on the grill pan.

Once the grill heats up (medium heat), place the pan on the grill and let cook until the bottom is a golden brown or to your liking. Usually about 5 mins.
Flip the crust over and spread olive oil on the cooked side.

Then immediately add all your toppings (it is a good idea to have all these prepped and ready to go before you start grilling).  Our toppings of choice are sauce, fresh garlic, onion, zucchini, yellow squash, pepperoni, and mushrooms and green peppers for Michael.

Oh and don't forget the cheese - we usually mix some fresh mozzarella in with the shredded kind :)

Close the grill and let cook until the cheese is melted and toppings are to your preferred done-ness - but also check the crust every once in awhile to ensure nothing is burning. Usually about 5-10 mins.

Enjoy!

September Beginnings

September is upon us and I feel like it was just yesterday that August was here!  I have been out of school for two years now and this is the first year where I actually felt like I shouldn't be heading back to school at the end of August/early September.  I helped move my sister in to her dorm at UVA and that was very nostalgic for me as well as very exciting! All the fun memories of first year came flooding back as we walked around grounds and the old dorm areas.

Just after arriving at UVA!

About to enter her new home - all 16 x 12 feet of it :)

Pretending I was staying forever.

I decided to stay on as a nanny for the year after much deliberation. I can still substitute teach and do my student teaching on my days off, so for now it should be good :)  It is definitely weird only have to watch one kid now, Chase goes to pre-school two afternoons a week but his brothers are gone all day!  

I am looking forward to the coming weekends, wedding events, birthdays (!), craft fairs, fall, pumpkins, cooler weather, oh and that 5K I am supposed to be running on Saturday...should be interesting.  I have started working out more but I usually avoid running at all costs, especially once I realized that a) running sucks and b) there are way more fun ways to workout that don't involve running.  Michael and I are getting along pretty well, we will be married for FIVE months on Friday, which seems weird to me - but time flies when you're having fun (or when you are too busy to notice).  We are looking forward to some more low key weekends so that we can work on some of the many craft projects we have planned for our house :)

Speaking of Michael, he and Sadie wanted to say hi so they posed in a special picture just for the blog.

Brownie Batter Cookies

Hello! It has been awhile.  It has been a hectic last few weeks, but I am back with a great recipe for any chocolate lovers out there.

One of my favorite food blogs that I currently follow is chef in training. I just LOVE all the different recipes she has - the presentation, the easy to follow recipes, and the variety!  I wanted to bake something with the boys a couple Fridays ago and so I perused her recipe list for some awesomeness and came across brownie batter cookies.  The recipe is originally from Picky Palate.  My favorite Ben and Jerry's flavor is Half Baked, which for those who have not experienced this flavor is brownie batter mixed with cookie dough, so I figured this recipe would be a good cookie equivalent.  Overall, the cookies were good - my dad LOVED them, but for me I think they were missing something.  I think it was either needing more salt or more brownie batter.  The recipe calls for prepared brownie mix.  I don't even know where to find this so I just made a batch of brownie batter from a box and added that.  It worked well enough but I think it needed a little more brownie.  My only other tip is to not cook them as long.  I cooked mine for 10 minutes and the recipe calls for 13-15 minutes but I think mine would have been too hard.

After adding the brownie batter.

The boys had a great time making them AND eating them, I think I will try these again and search for some prepared brownie mix :)

Enjoy!

A little early for Christmas, but it was the biggest plate we could find :)